1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to systems for providing an isolation enclosure for patients for whom it is desirable to restrain or isolate to a bed area.
2. Background of the Related Art
Various illnesses and conditions such as brain trauma, dementia and Alzheimer's disease often leave people in such a condition that constant management of the patient is necessary to prevent further injury and mishap. Traditional systems and methods for monitoring and controlling patients with such needs have included bed straps or restraints, straight jackets, sedation, a monitoring device, a dedicated individual at hand, isolation rooms and the like both alone and in combination. Many of these prior art methods and systems are burdensome to all concerned and prohibitively expensive. For example, bed straps immobilize a patient on a bed. When the patient desires to move or change position, the restraints prevent such shifting. As a result, a restrained patient can become very uncomfortable and/or agitated in addition to suffering medical complications. For another example, a dedicated person to attend to the restrained person's needs on an all day, every day basis is cost prohibitive.
Recently, several techniques for addressing confining a patient to a bed area while allowing free movement have been developed to address the needs of the patient and caregiver. Some examples are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,291 to Eads et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,529 to Chadwick et al., each of which is incorporated herein by reference. However, there are problems associated with the prior art enclosure bed apparatus. Often, the condition which requires restraint may be temporary and as a result transportation, assembly and disassembly of the enclosure may be common. The prior art systems require extensive manpower for assembly and disassembly. When disassembled, loose parts can be lost and transport and storage is cumbersome and difficult. To assemble, tools and excessive know-how and manpower are needed. When assembled, excessive bulk prevents easy transport and storage.
Commonly a patient enters the hospital at the emergency room experiencing symptoms that convince the staff that some form of isolation is in order. Following some initial evaluation, a determination may be made indicating that additional tests, evaluation, admission, surgery, or more acute care is required. As a result, the patient may require transfer to multiple locations within the hospital facility, each requiring some form of isolation sufficient to provide protection to the caregiver(s) or patient. Multiple isolation units as well as the costs for decontamination in each of the various locations not only is extremely expensive but introduces additional risk of contamination. Furthermore, patients on occasion will need to be treated in such a manner that entry into the isolated enclosure is necessary, and therefore an additional airlock enclosure may be needed to facilitate such treatment while maintaining requisite patient isolation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,377 shows a portable, collapsible clean air isolation enclosure that has a top mounted inflatable plenum chamber connected to a source of filtered air to provide a positive or negative pressure sterile or dust free environment, and peripheral curtains sealed at the bottom to the floor. The isolation enclosure of the '377 patent employs the floor as the lower portion of the isolation chamber and therefore would be difficult or impossible to move while in operation because the floor is exposed to any contamination within the enclosure. Moreover, such an enclosure would not be capable of fitting through doors, elevators and the like while in operation due to the fact that it employs the floor as the bottom of the isolation enclosure and to the usage of hinged wings that support the enclosure.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome one or more of the above-described drawbacks and/or disadvantages of the prior art.